Although water covers almost 71 percent of the earth's surface, only three percent of that water is potable. Furthermore, it is estimated that irrigation systems consume approximately 70 percent of the world's freshwater placing an additional burden on fresh water supply. With increasing human population, increased economic activity, and pollution, it is estimated that two of every three people in the world will live in water-stressed conditions by the year 2030. The indispensability of water followed by its impending scarcity creates potential for future regional conflicts. In this context, it is imperative to explore alternative technologies that reduce dependence on fresh water resources.
Drip irrigation systems refer to a type of micro-irrigation system, commonly known in agricultural industry, which supplies water directly to the roots of a plant. In certain areas, scarcity of water has been a concern for such drip irrigation systems. For example, in arid areas, water is not easily available. In order to solve this, a drip irrigation system may employ a mist collection arrangement. The mist collection arrangement collects water from mist in surrounding air, and water thus collected is used by the drip irrigation system for irrigation purposes.
Over the years, several mist collection arrangements have been devised to collect water from mist in surrounding air. However, existing mist collection arrangements suffer from a variety of drawbacks. For instance, one such mist collection arrangement may employ a number of vertical mesh vanes, which are electrically rotated to collect water from mist in air flowing therethrough. The water so collected is further funneled and guided to a storage tank. Such mist collection arrangements would however cause unfiltered water to be trickled to the storage tank. Furthermore, such mist collection arrangement require a continuous supply of electricity for normal operation.
Hence, there is a long felt but unresolved need for a mist collection arrangement, which collects filtered water by collecting mist in surrounding air. Furthermore, there is a need for a mist collection arrangement suitably constructed to avoid spillage of collected water from the mist collection arrangement.